Ahead of the 2027 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has attributed the delay in issuing Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to millions of newly registered voters to the fact that the cards are being produced outside Nigeria.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, disclosed this in Abuja while responding to concerns from Nigerians who participated in the third phase of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise but are yet to receive their PVCs.
According to the commission, distribution of PVCs from the first and second phases of registration, as well as transferred cards, is ongoing across local government areas nationwide. Some PVCs belonging to voters in the third and final registration phase have already arrived and are expected to be dispatched to states shortly.
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Amupitan appealed for patience from affected registrants, explaining that the production process is handled abroad, a factor that has affected delivery timelines. He added that PVC distribution would return to registration centres nationwide from 1 December 2026.
The commission said nearly 2.97 million Nigerians registered during the third CVR phase before a data-cleaning exercise was carried out.
The update came alongside INEC’s announcement of a major clean-up of the national voter register. The commission revealed that 1,609,553 invalid and deceased records had been removed following investigations into irregularities uncovered during the public display of the preliminary voters’ register.
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Of the records removed, 1,608,660 were classified as invalid registrations, while 873 belonged to deceased voters. The exercise followed a technical audit conducted with the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), which detected multiple registrations, unusual registration patterns and substituted photographs.
INEC also disclosed that 54 staff members across 10 states were linked to breaches of registration procedures. The commission said the implicated officials exploited provisions designed for vulnerable citizens and bypassed established guidelines.
With preparations for the 2027 elections gathering pace, the commission insists that the register clean-up and ongoing PVC distribution are critical steps towards strengthening confidence in Nigeria’s electoral process and ensuring that only eligible voters appear on the final register.
